Blinded Fire: Journey of the Blind Champion
by pokedawnheart
Summary: Blind and traumatized from the age of eight, Ash was still determined to become a great trainer, despite what others said. Read his journey as he overcomes great challenges put in his way, and shows everyone that he might just be the strongest trainer of them all. Psychic!Smart!Aura!Ash. Different Starter! Rated for slight violence.
1. Blinded

**Hi! This is an idea I had for a **_**long**_** time. Basically, Ash goes through a traumatizing experience as a young child, and I also wanted a good story about Ash being blind, though I don't know why. And don't worry, I'll still update all my other stories, I just need more time to write them.**

**On with the story!**

_If you think that this is just another story about a normal kid going on a journey, and then ending up champion, then you're wrong. My story has several more 'tests', way more issues. Many people thought that I shouldn't've gone at all. But I was determined to prove them all wrong. Because they didn't know me, they didn't understand. Battling is in my very blood, it is what I lived for. But all because of an incident, it was almost taken form me forever. My name is Ashton Satoshi Ketchum, and an incident when I was younger took away my sight, and it nearly took my dream as well. It all started on my eighth birthday._

The weather was perfect. The sky was a perfect sapphire blue and there were no clouds in sight. I had only just turned eight, and me and my friends, Leaf and Gary, were hanging out in the woods near Pallet Town, our hometown. Things were just perfect.

Leaf's parents had volunteered to watch us in case anything happens, like a wild pokemon attack. My mom was the one who had the idea of someone watching us, and since she was busy with other things, and Gary's parents were out of town, there wasn't really anyone else left to do it.

The three of us were playing hide-and-seek, and I was currently 'it'. I was looking near some bushes at the edge of the small clearing we were in when I heard the sound of a pokeball releasing a pokemon. Curious by nature as I am, I followed the sound. When I got to the source, I found a big, buff guy with military-styled dark brown hair, narrowed dark gray eyes and was wearing a rather weird pale gray outfit with darker gray spots (**AN: **Hunter J's henchmen outfit, I just don't know how to describe it). At his side was a Beedrill, a rather large bee with stingers for arms.

The man was talking to himself, and, though I wasn't really paying attention, I still heard everything and I just filed it away in my brain for later. I was too busy trying to listen for my friends to pay any real attention to the guy. I had closed my eyes so that I would pay attention to what I was hearing, not what I was seeing, so of course I didn't know that he had started scanning the near-by area and that I was in plain sight. Next thing I know, I'm on the ground with the Beedrill's right stinger on my throat.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? A little kid spying on me, eh," the man said while chuckling darkly. I was struggling not to panic but I guess that my fear showed in my eyes, making the man chuckle harder and slightly darker. "Aw, don't worry, I'm not going to kill you, yet. I've got to have orders from the hunter before I can. Though, you might be one of the few that she kills herself!" and with that, the guy starts full on laughing. He cut himself off from his laughing fit when his ear comm. beeped. He pressed his right pointer finger to his ear. He was silent for a minute, then, with a quick "yes, sir" to the person on the other side, he looked back at me with a smirk that just screamed 'you're dead'.

"Well, looks like your time is up. I'm just sorry that I can't see the light leave your eyes. Beedrill, Cross-Poison, now!" the man ordered. Immediately, the Beedrill released my throat and the two stingers turned sickly purple, and the next thing I knew was pain. The pain was althroughout my face and shoulders. I dimly heard the sound of a pokemon returning to a pokeball, but I didn't care. I heard the guy shout something like, "see you in the afterlife, kid", but I could care less. I don't know how long I've been there, but at some point I heard the sounds of my friends and Leaf's parents. I felt the strong arms of Leaf's father holding me, and I blacked out.

_***three days later***_

I woke up, feeling like I had been trampled on by a Tauros, frozen solid by a Beartic, and then defrosted by the full fire of a Magmortar, repeatedly. There was a really firm bed beneath my form and I could smell that over clean smell of hospitals. I could hear the heart rate monitor beeping and the Audinos and Chanseys chattering as they checked their assigned patients. I slowly opened my eyes, yet all I could see was black. At first I wondered if my eyes hadn't really opened, but when I tried again, there was no change. That was when I paniced.

It took maybe ten minutes before I was calm enough to not be a danger to myself. Once I had calmed down, everything stared to piece together in my head. I was in a hospital, there was a painful stinging all throughout my face and shoulders, and _I couldn't see_. I don't know what compelled me to do it, but I took a hold on the nearest living thing to me, an Audino, and I reached into her mind. It took me a minute to get over the shock of doing it, and then another to get over the shock of what the pokemon was seeing.

My face was filled with shock and hidden fear in that moment. That is how bad it was. My face had been ripped apart in an "x" formation, with the crossing over my nose, stiches over the slashes. My shoulders had slashes that went pretty deep and had stiches as well. I knew that they would leave scars for the rest of my life. My eyes were no longer brown and full of life, they were now an unfocused pale blue. I knew then why I couldn't see with my own eyes. _I was blind_.

**Yes, I know, it's short. I will be making longer chapters soon. And please, review, I'm starting to get disappointed in you guys.**


	2. Betrayal

**Hi, and welcome to the new chapter! This is the quickest update I've ever done. And don't worry, I will still work on my other stories, I just need time.**

**On with the story!**

_***One Month Lather***_

I was finally out of the hospital. While there, I learned that there were more side-effects to my blindness than most cases. For one, I became really sickly. No joke. I seriously became sick easier than before, mainly respitory and cardio issues. The hospital had supplied an Audino, captured in a Heal Ball, for those issues. For another, I apparently either gained or unlocked strong psychic abilities, as evidenced by the fact that, after I woke up, I saw through the eyes of an Audino. It kind of confused everyone, including me. No one can explain why my brain waves all of a sudden resemble an elite Psychic type. Which leads to the last change I went through this past month: being able to understand all pokemon. That had come as a nasty surprise when I figured it out.

My worst surprise came the night I left the hospital, though. And it nothing to do with the weird side-effects of my blindness. It had to do with one of my good friends. And I would have never seen it coming.

Me and my friends were just hanging out in my room, which had taken some serious patience on my part. My mom's Meowth was resting on my bed, right beside me. Before you ask why my mom has a Meowth, it's because my father gave it to her before leaving again. He died three years later. Surprisingly enough, Meowth prefers me over mom. What was about to happen is a perfect example of that.

Things were calm for the most part. I was telling Gary and Leaf about my new abilities. Gary was particularly interested in the development of my strange powers. And, out of nowhere, Leaf made the comment that would end the friendship Gary and I have with her.

"Well, that's another rival out of the game," Leaf remarked after a minute of silence. Gary and I were staring at her in slight confusion, me just staring at the direction of her voice. After another minute of silence, Leaf spoke again. "Well, it's just, Ash is blind now, and everyone knows that a blind person just can't battle. They need to be able to see what's going on in a battle and even with Ash's new ability to see through the eyes of others, he needs to have physical contact with that person or pokemon. It just wouldn't work in his favor."

I felt anger like that I have never known boil in my blood. But before I could do anything, mainly start arguing with her, I heard a low growl that escalated into a hiss of pure hate. I looked down to Meowth, where the sound was coming from, and I turned to where I knew Gary was. I look inside me for the psychic power and pushed it to Gary, starting a mental conversation.

'_Lend me your eyes, Gary. I want to see this'_

'_You sure. This might get scary'_

'_I could always read the memory from you later, but I want to see it as it happens'_

'_Okay, whatever you say, Ash. But don't tell me I didn't warn you'_

After that, Gary grabbed hold of my hand and I was able to see what he was seeing. Leaf was looking our way with a smug look on her face. Gary then looked down to let me see Meowth about ready to pounce. In the next minute, the little cream-colored cat pounced with one paw having three glowing claws on each 'finger'. Before Leaf could react, the claws slashed against one side of her pretty face. She let lose a scream of pain just as Meowth landed on the ground and walked right back to me.

Gary let go of my hand as my mom came rushing in at the scream. Leaf decided to be her usual bratty self and blame the Meowth, as she always did when things go wrong at my house. "That stupid cat of yours scratched me for no reason!" she yelled while in pain.

"_That's what you get for upsetting and insulting my Master!_" Meowth snapped back, knowing that I could understand her. I had asked her after coming back from the hospital why she had been calling me 'master' ever since the _incident_, and she explained that she had always called me that, even when I was a baby, so I no longer react to the little cat calling me 'master'.

"What happened this time, Gary?" my mother asked with a sigh. Leaf was almost always making everything Meowth's fault, so she had started asking Gary and me about stuff that has happened concerning Leaf and Meowth.

"Well Mrs. Ketchum, we were just talking and Leaf decided to tell us that Ash couldn't battle anymore because of his blindness," Gary explained. Everyone had learned the hard way that you just can't sugar-coat everything with me like you can most kids. Mainly because I have a better understanding of things than most kids my age. It scares mom to no end, how little I have of an actual childhood.

That was the last straw with mom when it came to Leaf. The girl was just a lot of trouble to the Ketchum family and she was not having it anymore. Gary and I didn't care, really. I just found it insulting that she had no faith in me. Gary and I vowed that night to never interact with her again.

**Okay, so what do you think? Please leave a review and tell me what you think. See you next chapter!**


	3. Author's Note

**Hey, just a quick Author's Note**

**I am still working on this story and the thrid chapter should be posted soon. I just need you guy's opinion on something:**

**Should Ash give his pokemon nicknames?**

**I will be setting up a poll for you guys to dicide on this matter.**

**See you next chapter!**


	4. Final AN

**Hey guys, and welcome to the last AN of Blinded Fire. I have taken down the poll and giving nicknames won. Also, I find myself very unsatisfied with how I wrote the story thus far, so I will be rewriting it.**

**Two reviewers left some points that I should explain in more detail before I abandon this story-**

**Farla: One, I know that I am changing Ash's childhood up, but this is my story and I just wanted to do that. This is an AU, you know. Two, for my grammar issues, I'm just doing it the way I understand it. I'M ONLY IN TENTH GRADE! And I am pretty bad at Language Arts. So, yah. Another thing, when it comes to Ash being able to see through the eyes of others, he's not truly 'seeing' anything, and after leaving that person or pokemon's mind, he only was a foggy idea of what he saw (except the first time he did it, because it was so traumatizing, or important events, because of the strong emotions tied to them). And one last thing, yes I know that you can't get breathing problems from ****blindness****, ****I****just**** mistyped. ****He**** actually ****does****get****sick****, ****but****its****more****from****the****poison****and****the****breathing****problems****is****a****side****effect****.**

**Captain Buggles: One, the man was a cold-hearted criminal and he found Ash spying on him, plus he was given orders to do so by Hunter J, his employer. And even though I didn't mention it, Ash did hear some important information, but you will hear what Ash overheard in a nightmare later on, though probably not this Ark. Also, I didn't put in the month after the incident, but there were hints throughout the month at the hospital of Leaf getting more snobbish than she was. And don't worry, Leaf was given a good long lecture on her behavior the day after by Delia, her parents AND Professor Oak, I just wanted to end the chapter there. Also, your point about Ash and Gary overreacting, you've got to really think about this. In my story, Ash is a natural when it comes to pokemon battles and training and Leaf was saying that Ash couldn't do what came naturally to him. It's like telling someone who is a natural in music that they can't play or compose because they have a disability. Also, your concern about Ash being spoiled. Well, he was a little spoiled when it came to his blindness, but only in necessities. Also, as the chapter will explain in more detail, there was a year-long fight between Ash and his mother about going on a journey like other twelve year olds. Ash will also be traveling with Gary, but Gary will not be a prat like he was in the anime, though they will tease each other.**

**Also, forget what I said about Ash gaining the ability to understand pokemon. Though he does have the ability to do so, he did NOT gain it from the incident in the first chapter. That and other things will be explained after the Kalos Ark. The Dexholders will be very involved in this story and Ash can use Aura.**

**It took me so long to upload this because I was stuck on what starter to use but that issue is now taken care of.**

**Thank you for those who reviewed for this story and voted, and read my mini rant.**

**(By the way, I will be making a list at the beginning of every new chapter in the rewritten version on what pokemon Ash and his friends have which will include nickname, species, gender, ability and moves, and I will be adding any notices about team growth at the end of every chapter (new pokemon, new moves, etc.).)**


End file.
